The cliché “writer meets a starlet for breakfast, lunch or dinner. The starlet, usually of slim and gamine proportions, appears to thwart our expectations by ordering and consuming, with conspicuous relish, a meal that might satisfy a hungry dockworker.” New York Times writer, Jeff Gordinier points out that this situation has become oddly familiar, and it has even been coined “the documented instance of public eating” (DIPE).

Journalists cannot be blamed for noting what their celebrity subject ate during an interview, after all, the interview was limited to only a meal compared to the past when interviews lasted for three or four days. Although a DIPE may not tell us anything that significant about the starlet, it may say something more about our society’s expectations of them.

These documented instances sexualize food and are “more than a playful wink” according to Carol J. Adams, who has spent time analyzing images of women and food. She argues that these DIPEs are saying, “traditional consumption of women’s bodies and animals’ bodies is O.K.”

However, not everyone is buying this. Anna Holmes, former editor of Jezebel, rolls her eyes and assumes that every special mention of DIPE is a set-up. Instead, Anna says she would appreciate some truth from actresses and wouldn’t mind if someone said “it’s my job to be a certain size, and it takes a lot of work for me to do so.”